Chapel Hill ISD Updates Corporal Punishment Policy

One of the changes addressed gender as it pertains to
administering corporal punishment.

The new guidelines state that "female principal(s) or
designee shall spank or paddle female students" and
"male principal(s) or designee shall spank or paddle male
students."

Superintendent Joe Stubblefield said the district wanted to make
sure of the gender specifications.

There have been two men and one woman who could administer
corporal punishment at the high school, he said, so another woman
will have to be designated to ensure a man wouldn't administer
corporal punishment to a female student.

Additionally, another man will have to be designated at the
middle school, Stubblefield said.

Another change in the corporal punishment guidelines involves
corporal punishment being administered as a substitute for
Special Assignment Class, or what is commonly known as in-school
suspension.

Board Vice President Gary Tyler said under the newly approved
guidelines, a student could only take corporal punishment in lieu
of SAC for one day.

As far as if corporal punishment is used, Stubblefield said
parents have the option to object to the use of corporal
punishment with their child.

About 70 percent of high school parents chose the option to allow
corporal punishment for their child or children this school year,
he said.

"I do think it's effective," Tyler said of corporal
punishment. "(For example), if you cut yourself on
something, you're not going to do it again because it
hurts."

Stubblefield said he believed corporal punishment has been used
at the middle school four times this school year.

Board president Glen Elliott also talked about the corporal
punishment issue, saying he thinks the district has come up with
a policy that is appropriate.

The amended policy "better suits the needs for everybody
concerned," he said.

The Daily Herald, Columbia, Tennessee, 23 April 2009

School board spares the rod

By Skyler Swisher

Corporal punishment is now officially off the books in Maury
County.

Click to enlarge

The school board voted unanimously to repeal its corporal
punishment policy. With the vote, Maury County Public Schools
joined 29 states, 95 of the 100 largest U.S. school districts and
106 countries in prohibiting the practice.

School officials said they wanted the policy repealed to guard
against lawsuits. Director of Schools Eddie Hickman said
violations of the corporal punishment ban by school staff would
result in at least a written reprimand.

"They will have to deal with me," he said.

School officials said they were worried a child could be
accidentally struck in a manner outside of the policy.

Hickman said he has strongly discouraged corporal punishment
since he took the reins of superintendent in 2004 and did not
paddle students when he was principal of Columbia Central High
School.

During the 2004-05 academic year, there were 77 incidents of
corporal punishment reported to the Central Office. There were
only three reported incidents of corporal punishment this past
year -- all of which took place at Hampshire School.

The district's policy stated that corporal punishment should
only be used as a last resort. Students could only be struck in a
"responsible manner" a maximum of three times by a
school-approved paddle, according to the policy. Parents were
given the option of requesting their children not receive
corporal punishment.

Not everyone in the community was in support of ending
corporal punishment in public schools. David Baker, pastor of
Lighthouse Baptist Church and the father of 11 children, told The
Daily Herald in a March interview that corporal punishment is a
biblically sanctioned punishment that is effective when
administered correctly.

He said school systems should be protected from lawsuits
stemming from the proper use of corporal punishment.

Winston-Salem Journal, North Carolina, 28 April 2009

House agrees to school spanking changes

The Associated Press

RALEIGH-- North Carolina school districts
where corporal punishment is allowed would have to give parents
the option of exempting their children from such a penalty in
legislation that cleared the House on Monday night.

Click to enlarge

The measure, approved by a vote of 91-24 and sent to the
Senate for consideration, also would require school officials to
make a "reasonable attempt" to contact a parent before
such punishment is used.

The bill doesn't go far enough for some House members who have
wanted in recent years to ban spanking in North Carolina's public
schools. Fifty-five of the 115 districts allow corporal
punishment, and at least eight of them allow parents to exempt
their children, said Rep. Martha Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, one of
the bill's primary sponsors.

"This is a consensus bill. We all agree that we need to
have safe learning environments for our students," Alexander
said during debate. "This bill is not whether or not
corporal punishment is appropriate or not, but whether parents
are allowed to participate in this important decision."

Each local school board adopts their own rules on punishing
students for misbehavior, with some minimum guidelines
established by the state. Giving parents the chance to "opt
out" of physical punishment isn't required.

That would change in the House bill, telling districts that
spanking can't be administered to a student if a parent has asked
in writing it not be done. Parents must be given a form they can
fill out when their child enters school each year to decide.
Alerting parents before a spanking occurs ensures that they know
their children are acting up in school, too, said Rep. Laura
Wiley, R-Guilford, a former teacher.

Several House members, including Alexander, worked to pass a
complete school spanking ban in 2007, arguing the punishment was
ineffective and could lead to injuries for a child. But the bill
was defeated on the floor, as many colleagues said local
districts should be able to decide for themselves whether
spanking is a useful method of punishment.

Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, who voted against the bill Monday
night, said the practical application of the legislation would be
to "diminish and ultimately end the use of corporal
punishment."

The bill also would require school districts to report
annually to the Department of Public Instruction how many
students had received corporal punishment.

Gainesville Times, Georgia, 29 April 2009

Ex-Riverside coach no longer employed after paddling

Head of school says academy does not condone corporal
punishment

By Jessica Jordan

Riverside Military Academy deputy superintendent and former
head football coach Chris Lancaster is no longer employed at the
private school after he violated school policy by paddling a
cadet on campus last week.

Click to enlarge

Lancaster, who also served as athletic director in his
two-year stint at the school, admits to paddling the cadet on the
morning of April 23 after giving him the option to take the
paddling or do more calisthenics to work off demerits for bad
behavior.

"Yes, I paddled him once he accepted that option,"
Lancaster said. "... Again, it was an option. It was not
forced."

Lancaster declined to comment on whether he resigned or was
fired since the school became aware of the paddling when the
cadet's parent called the school on Friday to complain of the
incident.

Riverside officials chose to notify the Department of Family
and Children Services and the Gainesville Police Department so
that they could independently verify the allegations.

No charges are pending, a police spokesman said.

In March, Lancaster announced to staff members he would be
stepping down as football coach but planned to remain at
Riverside until the end of this school year. At that time, he
said he would be taking over as athletic director and head coach
at Bruceville-Eddy, a high school in Texas near Waco. Lancaster
said Wednesday he plans to move to Texas soon to be closer to his
family.

Riverside Military Academy President Col. Guy Gardner said
according to school policy corporal punishment is not tolerated
at Riverside.

"That kind of thing we investigate," Gardner said.
"Paddling, corporal punishment, although as I understand it
there are some school districts in Georgia that do use that, that
is not something we use here at Riverside. We have strenuous
calisthenics and sometimes work details for our boys to work off
their demerits, but we don't use corporal punishment."

Gardner said Riverside's board of trustees is leading the
school's investigation of the incident and aims to
"determine if there are other concerns that need to be
addressed."

While Gardner declined to comment on when or under what
circumstances Lancaster separated from the academy, he did say
Wednesday that Lancaster is no longer employed at the academy. He
said also corporal punishment could be a basis for dismissal as
determined on a case by case basis.

"Actually our policy is verbal or physical abuse is
subject to disciplinary action up to and including
dismissal," he said.

Jim Brim, attorney for Riverside Academy, said the school
became aware of the incident in which Lancaster struck a student
with a six-inch wide wooden paddle. Brim said the cadet involved
in the incident told a parent about it and the parent called the
school Friday to inquire if corporal punishment was allowed at
Riverside.

"That triggered an investigation and Riverside chose to
notify the Department of Family and Children Services and the
Gainesville Police Department the same day so they could be aware
of the situation and independently verify the facts," Brim
said.

Brim said this is a situation of corporal punishment not child
abuse.

"Corporal punishment is legal in Georgia schools, but
it's simply not Riverside policy," he said.

Brim said he has no information that suggests any other
Riverside employees have paddled students. He also said he has no
information that the cadet involved in the incident last week was
injured.

Gainesville Police Lt. Brian Kelly said the department hopes
to obtain a copy of the DFCS report today.

"Our biggest thing is to see what was reported to DFCS
and see what those allegations are," Kelly said. "...
We'd have to converse with the parents and determine that the
parents want to file a report for any type of assault against
their child, and if they do, we'd proceed with a formal
investigation at that point."

A legal representative from DFCS did not return messages from
The Times on Wednesday.

Kelly said there are many legal factors regarding the fine
line between parental-type discipline at the boarding school and
physical abuse that may affect whether or not Lancaster could be
charged with battery if the cadet's parents wanted to press
charges.

"Depending on what the parents want to do with this, this
may not go anywhere if they don't have an issue with the spanking
or depending what was around the spanking," he said.
"It may just end up being an administrative issue with the
academy, which it sounds like to me that they're pretty much on
top of it ..."

Lancaster, who graduated from Riverside in 1985, said in his
capacity as deputy superintendent he served as a parent figure
for cadets in that he was responsible for their discipline and
safety. He calls the job "the toughest I've ever had."

"When you're running a military school in today's
society, kids will look you in the face and lie to you and say,
'What are you going to do to me?' ... As deputy
superintendent in charge of cadets' day to day operations, I was
just trying to do my job."

He said he allowed cadets to choose whether they wanted to do
about 45 minutes of calisthenics as their punishment for bad
behavior or to "take this easy route" and get paddled
-- an option he had as a Riverside cadet.

Lancaster said some students continually behaved poorly and
had to do calisthenics day after day to work off demerits, which
grew tiresome for many of them.

"I gave kids options," he said. "... This
incident has nothing to do with me taking another job. I'm not
trying to run from anything."